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Ruby-editors

Which editor are you using to program in Ruby? And which are you using for Rails? Do you like it, if so, what do you like most? What do you dislike?

I used ConTEXT + Ruby highlight, Notepad2 + Ruby highlight, Eclipse with RDT, RadRails, and I'm now using emacs + ruby-mode. I'm pretty happy with it, but it is really hard to learn (doesn't use the mouse at all). I found RadRails/Eclipse to be slow, but it's code overview/class browser is good. Notepad2 and ConTEXT arent Ruby aware besides highlighting.

I use Textmate. When I did Rails stuff on Windows I liked jEdit with the Ruby plugin - it was the closest I could find to Textmate but it was a bit slow. RadRails was too buggy for my liking. Fortunately, since I got my MacBook Pro I don't need to develop on Windows anymore!

Textmate is cool but most of the time I'm on Windows and jEdit does what I need. I have to say that I rarely use Ruby for the moment! I really think that Textmate is better than jEdit for Ruby but you need a mac for that!

I started really getting into Rails development, and after watching several screencasts where everyone used TextEdit I just went out and bought myself a MacBook Pro. Now I have TextEdit and Mac OS X but I can reboot into Windows XP too. I have a few PHP editors on Windows I realy like and I have some Windows-only apps I have to keep running.

TextMate is awesome though... it's so simplistic but it's so functional. I love how it doesn't get in the way. No buttons or menus, just type the code.

If you've got a Mac, definitely check out TextMate. On Windows I used the free RadRails - http://www.radrails.org/. Pretty good editor.

DouglBTX, my version supports the mouse too, but it's faster to use, say C-x o if you want to go to the other window, but it is hard to learn all the keys (but I'm trying!).

Thanks for the windows version, I think it's easier to use with CUA mode. I'm going to try it out in a minute. Can you still use the other keys that use C-x .., or do you have to disable CUA mode?

Bob, you have to download ruby-mode first, then put it in your site-lisp directory, and put load it in your .emacs file (instructions on how to do this are usually in the package, ruby-mode.el in this case). Do the same thing for ruby-conf.el (bottom of the page).

You have to use delete to delete selected text, but it is easier to use Ctrl + space to set mark (start of selection) and move the cursor to another location, and press Ctrl+w (kill-region) to delete text.

OK, if you mean the .emacs file, it depends. If you're using windows, it's probably in C:\, and if you're using linux, it's in your home dir.

OK, thanks for the info. I try to use keys like C-n and M->, but I find it faster to navigate with C-s (incremental-search). I have not used bookmarks yet, but I will once I've practiced the other keys more.

I use TextMate. It has a lot of nice little features that make editing a breeze. But it also doesn't overload you with useless features -- it's lightwieght but powerfull.
I tried RadRails but found it slow and buggy but I've heard it works better on WinXP than Mac OS X. I've been trying out Eclipse with the Ruby plugin but it gives me too much stuff I don't need and not enough of what in want in the feature set and UI. If you want something free Eclipse might be the way to go but TextMate is worth every cent and more.